Style Blogging from Buffalo

Dollar Shave Club

You’ve no doubt seen the now famous video for DollarShaveClub.com advertising high quality blades delivered to your door which only cost $1. After finally getting into a steady shaving routine thanks to The Art of Shaving and instantly getting tired of spending $25 on a new set of razor blades, I signed up for Dollar Shave Club to see how they faired against the competition.

One of my immediate concerns was that fact that I only shave once a week and could usually make a 4 pack of razors last a 2-3 months. Not wanting to end up with a stock pile of razors that weren’t getting used, Dollar Shave Club thankfully has an option to get blades delivered once every two months instead of monthly. So I updated my account settings and waited for my package to arrive.

After a couple of days my first box arrived at the door. One of the things I’ve always liked about DollarShaveClub.com is their package design. Simple, no frills, but very masculine and with the same tongue and cheek attitude which made their Youtube commercial so successful. I had been using a Gillette Mac3 blade for quite a while now, so I opted for The 4x blade. The handle of the razor had a nice weight to it which rivaled my Gillette and was a pleasant surprise. I lathered up my face got to work.

I definitely noticed a difference between the blades. The DSC blade had a nice feel to it, but I noticed the Gillete blades definitely had a smoother pull when using it. Both blades offered a nice close shave, but the Gillette blades just seemed to be a bit sharper by comparison. Wether this was because they were made to last longer or are made from better materials, I’m not sure. But since the DSC blades are meant to be discarded after 1 week of use (figure 3-4 shaves a week) I got the feeling these blades were not meant to last and wore out more quickly. And this is where the debate comes into play. Is it better to pay more for blades which last longer or for blades which don’t make you feel as bad for throwing out because it only cost $1 (or in this case $6)? If you have to constantly replace the blades more often, are you really saving that much money?

The other thing I noticed about The 4x is I had a difficult time reaching some hard to reach places like under my nose. The additional trimmer (which is included on the Gillette Mac3 and DSC The Executive) really becomes essential for these types of areas, but you have to now move up from a $6 razor to a $9 one. Still cheaper than a $25 four pack, but kind of a bummer that you need to get the most high-end razor in order to get a feature which is standard on most razors these days.

My final thoughts on Dollar Shave Club, honestly, are a bit mixed. The service, design and ease of having razors delivered to you door is awesome. The quality of the blades are good but I wouldn’t call them “F*cking Great” as the commercial claims, but as the old saying goes, “you get what you pay for”. For those tired of spending a fortune on razor blades and don’t need anything too fancy, I would definitely recommend Dollar Shave Club. For those looking for a higher-end razor, there are plenty of options to choose from and if you are spending the money on expensive shaving products, you may as well spend the money on a quality razor as well.

Lifestyle blogging from Buffalo where I live with my beautiful wife, our adorable french bulldog, a son who has a penchant for wearing capes and a beautiful baby girl who is practicing to be a debutante.